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22 Mar 2021 – Articles

Danske Bank is aiming for greater flexibility for employees in the wake of Covid-19

Danske Bank will now focus even more on flexibility for employees based on the experiences of working remotely during the pandemic. Specifically, employess will get the possibility of organizing working days in cooperation with the local manager as well as a subsidy to upgrade the home office. The purpose is to become a more attractive work place for employees while maintaining the good customer experience.

Covid-19 will be defeated, but some of the changes that followed in the wake have come to stay. At Danske Bank, this includes the possibility of a much greater degree of flexibility – for example in the form of improved opportunities to work from home. And the opportunity to work more from home is a priority for the bank's employees.

A large internal survey has shown that 92% of employees want to work from home on average two days a week, and this is a wish that the bank's management will now fulfill.


Image: Danske Bank employees working from home during the covid-19 pandemic. 

“Basically, we think that working from home has been enormously well received by employees and by our customers, who are much more able to meet the Bank's employees virtually. This creates a flexibility that we haven't had before – and it is in line with our ambition to create a more modern and more flexible way of working", says Karsten Breum, Head of Group HR at Danske Bank in an interview with the Danish newspaper Politiken and continues:

"Therefore, we will specifically offer employees the option to organize their working days and weeks themselves. For some, this will mean two working from home days a week, for others it’s more meaningful to work from home three days a week.” 


When the shutdown is over, we will take advantage of the positive experiences we have gained and ensure that employees can continue to work at home and get all the benefits. However, it is a completely voluntary scheme. 

Karsten Breum

Head of Group HR, Danske Bank



Flexibility
And the experience of homework is good. Earlier in the year, a survey from the Financial Services Union Denmark showed, among other things, that working from home provided 50% fewer stressed employees, and the number of customers who prefer online meetings has also increased significantly.

“We believe that the flexibility of working from home makes a difference to the work-life balance of employees. Of course, during the shutdown, employees have experienced childcare challenges, etc., but when the shutdown is over, we will take advantage of the positive experiences we have gained and ensure that employees can continue to work at home and get all the benefits", says Karsten Breum bu stresses that it's a voluntary scheme:

"However, it is a completely voluntary scheme, and if there are employees who prefer to sit all week in the office, it is also possible.” 


We can see in the analyzes we have made during the Covid-19-crisis, that it significantly increases the well-being of employees when they get more flexibility and the opportunity to organize their own work.

Kent Petersen

Chairman of the Financial Services Union Denmark



And this initiative is well received at the Financial Services Union Denmark:

“We can see in the analyzes we have made during the Covid-19-crisis, that it significantly increases the well-being of employees when they get more flexibility and the opportunity to organize their own work. So we want more of that,” says the Chairman of the Financial Services Union Denmark, Kent Petersen, to Politiken.

A subsidy to upgrade the home office
But working from home also demands new IT-solutions and comfort in the home office. That is why Danske Bank is now giving employees a one-off grant, and at the same time a wide range of IT-solutions have been launched with a focus on virtual collaboration.

One-off support is needed to improve your home workspace with, for example, a new chair, desk, or something completely different, while IT solutions such as Microsoft Teams, Yammer and more should enable you to work from home and continue to do tasks on an equal footing with your office colleagues.